Murray canters into 12th semi

Andy Murray produced his best performance of the Australian Open so far, beating Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 to book his place in the semis.

Murray has had a relatively easy ride to this stage, but Chardy promised to give the Scot a sterner test. The unseeded Frenchman was victorious in their last encounter and had already upset three seeded players - including sixth seed Del Potro - in getting to his first even slam quarter-final.

Alert to the danger, the third seed came out firing and surged into a 4-0 lead. Staring at the wrong end of a beating, Chardy's huge forehand clicked into gear and the Frenchman began to make his presence felt.

Murray relinquished the first break to love and was wobbling when serving at *4-3, but two big first deliveries averted the danger.

Chardy looked deflated and, ominously, Murray's started to click into high gear, finally showing the form of a Slam winner. The Scot seamlessly combined his trademark defence with outright agression, transitioning from one to the other with ease.

Face with this Chardy was powerless to resist and ceded the last two sets for just three games.

Well done to Andy. I felt all along that Chardy would be put firmly in his place as was Raonic in the US open. They both flattered to deceive.Like Andy I hope Jo-Wilfred and Prince Puff Ball knock the living daylights out of each other for 5 very long sets and that will bring parity back re night matches on the Rod L court.

Better performance today. His starts were increasing through the match, which suggests he's coming into some better form. Would like to see Andy win this tournament by beating Federer and then Djokovic, no one could grudge him it if he did that.

Strong start, little dip up 4-0, allowing Chardy to get a break back and then fell 0-30 down at 5-4. Some clutch play to seal the set then started to play much better after that. To be fair I'm not sure how much the little blips were down to Andy's game as much as Chardy raising his - he wasn't missing in those games.

Well done Andy. Chardy perhaps regrets tweaking Andy's tail in Cinci now as Andy not taking any nonsense today apart from the blip that I missed. Lovely relaxed post-match interview for those who says he has no sense of humour. Now jw French pride rests on you. Take it to 5 closely fought sets please and ideally win but if you can't do that knacker the smug one for us so he gets a late night and might regret the cushy night match.

That was good. The first set was a little worrying as Chardy showed signs of why he had made it this far but second two sets seemed so easy! He is getting into the zone of wanting and expecting to win which is good. Always blips but we have to forgive those in return for the rest of the skills.

Just been looking at the other match - rubbish with so many errors - they are more than the winners. We know that Fed will up his game against Andy but could Tsonga? No idea if this will suddenly come to life so I am going to watch the cricket instead.